Quiet Like the Snow
by Miroir Twin
Summary: A fluffy oneshot involving Gwen and one Albedo that's going through a little identity crisis. There is not enough Albedo/Gwen on here at all.


"What would it take for things to be quiet, quiet like the snow?"

* * *

Gwen found him at the end of the park, at 5:42 exactly, during her usual morning jog before school. She would have almost missed the still figure on the snow dusted bench if not for his distinct mana that she could pinpoint even if he was at the other end of the universe. The dark winter sky and dull streetlamps gave little to no help in seeing him, but she called out to her cousin anyways; worried as to why he was out here by himself when it was below freezing.

"Ben!" Her voice broke the boy out of his stupor, he jolted up at the single syllable. His head was covered in a thick layer of snow. Or at least it seemed to be, until he spun around to face his intruder and bitterly recited the words he spits out on a daily basis.

_"I am NOT Ben Tennyson."_ Gwen could see that now, looking into the tired red eyes of Albedo. "I am not his fanboy, or copycat or anything you humans keep on insinuating."

"I know...sorry, Albedo. You just...you have the same mana as him." Gwen felt a tinge of guilt, he obviously has been past the point of fed up with being mistaken for Ben. She was just making it worse.

"And the same face...and the same disgusting human body, the same powers, the same voice, the same habits, _the same DNA_. Nothing is mine anymore, not even my own identity is mine anymore..." The snow headed boy slumped back down on the bench in defeat, he's grown used to self-pity lately, as with people ignoring it in favor of asking him to transform into their favorite alien or why he dyed his hair.

"That's not completely true." He glared at the girl who meekly took a seat at the edge of the bench, dusting off the newly fallen flakes around her. "Well, it's true up to a point, I guess. But there's a lot about you that Ben can never have."

"Name one thing," The shivering boy demanded. "Because I can't."

"Your intelligence?"

"Gone. It was gone with my body, the human brain can't hold the same amount of knowledge as a Galvan's. At best, my intellect is a few points higher than the average human genius." Gwen watched the grumpy teen cross him arms over his chest in either irritation or in an attempt to keep warm, she couldn't tell.

"Well, that's something you have right there, Ben's at most a few points lower than the average person in general."

"Why are you quick to insult him? Are you not his family?" Gwen snorted into her mittens, gaining a confused look from the albino.

"Yeah...I am." She smirked at her cousin's doppelganger, noticing how pink the skin on his hands and ears were from the cold. "Ben deserves it though."

"He really does, doesn't he?" Albedo smiled a bit, the bright lights of dawn warming up his features. "Finally someone agrees with me...It still doesn't stop him from taking everything I have, unfortunately."

Helpless. The boy with the sad eyes in front of her was helpless in the wake of all things Ben 10, greatest hero in the universe, and he knew it. His small smile barely covered the negativity brewing behind it, and just watching him here, with puffs of cold breath leaving out his lips made her heart ache. Without her realizing it, the time had gone by and she was running late. She bolted up quickly, ready to leave.

"Sorry, I'm gonna have to cut this conversation short." Gwen pulled off her warm pink and white chullo and matching mitts, Albedo stared up at her in confused amazement. His confusion only heightened when she shoved the cap onto his frozen head and forced his numb hands into each mitten.

"What are you doing?" He stiffly asked, not used to Galvan forms of affection, let alone human ones. Gwen bent down to the boy's eye level. Taking each mitt in her hands, she smiled warmly at his flustered expression.

"You're not Ben Tennyson, you're Albedo. You'll always be you."

"How are you so certain?" She kissed him. With a couple strolling behind them, shoes crunching in the soft snow, and the winter morning light glowing around Gwen's hair like a halo. She took the boy by surprise, warming his icy lips up with her own. His cheeks grew warm as well, and by the time she moved away from the shocked boy she was witness to his whole face turning a shade of red not unlike his eyes. The anodite started walking away from the dazed teen, stopping when he called out to her.

"How does-does that prove that I am myself?"

_"I would never kiss my cousin."_

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A/N: OHhhhhh, I wrote something and actually completed it. Amazing. This fic is inspired by the fact that there is little to no Albedo/Gwen on here or anywhere. Albwen/Gwedo is awesome and I am embracing it fully to the point where I am writing fluff. I NEVER write fluff so this is weird for me. I usually suck at it.

Also a song inspired this fic, a song that I will forever associate with Albedo and Gwen, but especially Albedo. (He's going to be in Omniverse by the way, I saw the screenshots and fangasmed.)

The song is called Louder Than Thunder by The Devil Wears Prada

I hope all you Inverted Lover fans (who's rooting for our favorite albino) enjoy this fic, this is for you!


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